Rockford may buy 100 homes to prevent flood damage

City leaders are drafting a plan to buy and remove nearly 100 homes near Churchill Park, hoping to put an end to recurring flood damage around Keith Creek in southeast Rockford.

Bob Schaper

City leaders are drafting a plan to buy and remove nearly 100 homes near Churchill Park, hoping to put an end to recurring flood damage around Keith Creek in southeast Rockford.

The possibility of a wide-scale buyout was discussed during a Monday afternoon meeting at city hall between Mayor Larry Morrissey, City Administrator Jim Ryan and aldermen Frank Beach, R-10, Jeff Holt, D-11 and Nancy Johnson, D-8.

The aldermen confirmed the meeting and described the broad outlines of the plan, but emphasized that no decisions have been finalized, and the boundary of the potential buyout area has yet to be decided.

Johnson said between 75 and 85 homes might be purchased in the 11th Ward, and three to five each in the Eighth and Tenth.

Total cost would be a minimum of $10 million, she said. Possible funding sources could be a bond sale and federal and state grants.

“We need some type of time frame, and (the mayor and Ryan) assured us that it would be sooner than six months for a decision,” Johnson said. “We want to set up some criteria and some locations.”

The city’s flood mitigation plan — including buyouts and other forms of flood relief for property owners affected by the Aug. 7 flood — will be on the City Council’s Finance and Personnel Committee agenda set for Sept. 4. The matter may also go before the Planning and Development Committee.

Julia Scott-Valdez, assistant city administrator, said it was too soon for Morrissey or Ryan to comment on the plan.

Beach said three constituents had written to him saying they were willing to sell their homes.

“From my point of view, we have to do whatever we can to ensure that at some point in the future, when the rains come again, the same thing won’t occur in that particular area,” he said.

Holt has said in the past that buyouts should be an option for those whose properties have been damaged, and in some cases destroyed, by this year’s flood and the one on Labor Day 2006.

Beach said any long-term fixes to the Keith Creek channel, including a new dam on the south branch of the creek and a larger dam on the north branch, would take years to plan, design and build.

“When you talk to the Corps of Engineers and you look at what they forecast, from start to finish, it takes a number of years,” he said.

Staff writer Bob Schaper can be reached at 815-987-1410 or bschaper@rrstar.com.